Westminster sends £8.8 billion a year to the government and pays 10% of the Treasury's entire business rates bill. All it is asking for in return is a fair deal for its residents. That was Cllr Paul Fisher's message to BBC Radio London on 21 October, the morning after the council announced that 520 roles will go.
Interviewed in the studio by Aaron Paul, the Cabinet Member for Value for Money and Finance began with a guarantee: "This particular measure will not have an impact on frontline services." The roles going are back-office posts and managers, chosen so that the services residents rely on are untouched. Difficult decisions on services will come later, he said, because the council faces a £160 million gap over four years, including a 50% cut in government funding.
"Deeply ideological"
Asked why the government is cutting Westminster's funding, Cllr Fisher was blunt: "I'm afraid it's deeply ideological. The Labour government thinks that London has too much money." The new formula, he said, is "a very ideological programme to redistribute money from taxpayers in London, from low-tax councils that are well run, to poorly run councils in England, and it is deeply political."
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government told the programme the funding system had been fixed so that money goes where need is greatest, and pointed to Westminster's low council tax.
The deal Westminster has always had
Cllr Fisher's answer: Westminster sends £8.8 billion a year to the government in income tax, stamp duty and business rates, and contributes 10% of the Treasury's total business rates bill. The council is steward of the business centre of the capital, with 800,000 people visiting every day and 200,000 residents, and lower council tax for those residents "has always been the deal". The government now wants to renege on it. "All I'm asking is a fair deal for Westminster's residents."
Labour's record
On the Westminster Labour group's claim that local government has been "cut to the bone" by Conservative austerity: "Nonsense. Absolute nonsense." Labour ran the council for four years and failed to plan for what is happening now, he said. In March last year they took £20 million out of the council's reserves to fund day-to-day spending. "That was reckless. We are going to put our finances back on track."
What happens next
The leaders of several councils, including Westminster, are challenging the government's "fairer funding assessment" under the Sustainable Communities Act, which lets them ask ministers to think again and come back with a new proposal. "Whether the government does that is a separate matter," Cllr Fisher said, "but we have to try everything we can to challenge this unfair deal for the residents of Westminster."
Tell us what matters to you
If you have views on how the council should balance its books, tell us at westm.news/listening.
